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The Roots of Feng Shui The roots of Feng Shui can be traced back to the Western Chou Dynasty (1122-207 BCE). It was during this time that shamans, diviners, and sage-kings laid down the first three building blocks for what is now known as the art of Classical Feng Shui. These three blocks are described as pa-k’ua (eight trigrams), the compass, and the theory of change (I-Ching). From those blocks Feng Shui has expanded to include the four traditional schools, still in existence today; the San-yüan, San-ho, Hsüan-k’ung, and Pa-chai(2001 Han). During the Chou dynasty in ancient China King Wen was the first to use pa-k’ua to describe the natual energies flowing through the world. Pa-k’ua or the eight trigrams was basically a compass, showing the different flows of energy, in different directions. North is water (k’an), northeast is mountain (ken), East is thunder (chen), southeast is wind (sun), South is fire, southwest is earth or mother (k’un) west is lake (tui), and northwest is heaven or father (chien). These eight direction